No.3 seed Richard Gasquet of France booked his place in the Montpellier semis after defeating countryman Julien Benneteau in three sets 6-1 4-6 6-1.

After Benneteau wrapped up the second set to level the score, he seemed to have suffered from a minor back injury. This was clearly visible on his movement and strokes and there wasn’t much he could do from stopping Gasquet, who will play Jarkko Nieminen of Finland for a place in Sunday’s final.

Nieminen came back from a set down to beat Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, eventually prevailing 4-6 6-3 7-6 (2).

In the other semi-final match, Benoit Paire will square off against Michael Llodra.